<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Everything Has Changed by Booklivesmatter</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24972712">Everything Has Changed</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Booklivesmatter/pseuds/Booklivesmatter'>Booklivesmatter</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adoption, Albus Dumbledore Lives, Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Dolores Umbridge Being an Asshole, Dolores Umbridge is Her Own Warning, Draco Malfoy &amp; Harry Potter Friendship, Fred Weasley Lives, Good Albus Dumbledore, Good Draco Malfoy, Good Severus Snape, How Do I Tag, Severitus | Severus Snape is Harry Potter's Parent, Severus Snape Lives</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 00:46:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,321</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24972712</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Booklivesmatter/pseuds/Booklivesmatter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When has life ever been simple for the famous Harry Potter?<br/>In Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, everything changes.  With Voldemort back and stronger than ever, Harry finds he has to turn to someone he once considered an enemy.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Angelina Johnson/George Weasley, Arthur Weasley/Molly Weasley, Audrey Weasley/Percy Weasley, Draco Malfoy/Ginny Weasley, Fleur Delacour/Bill Weasley, Harry Potter &amp; Severus Snape, Hermione Granger/Fred Weasley, Luna Lovegood/Harry Potter, Nymphadora Tonks/Charlie Weasley, Parvati Patil/Ron Weasley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Harry Potter hated summer if for no reason more than the fact that it meant he had to spend it with his awful relatives, the Dursley's. This summer was worse than most, he was cooped up in his room, bars having returned to his window and locks on the outside of his door. There was a little flap installed in his door that could be covered when not in use to bring Harry cold food.<br/>
He wasn't sure how long he'd been locked away. He had no way to track the time and he hadn't been able to receive any mail as the owls were unable to get to him. Harry was miserable, that much was clear. He was hungry, he was exhausted, and he didn't feel well.<br/>
His Uncle had sworn up and down that he would not be going back to Hogwarts this year. No way, he had said, were the Dursley's going to put up with his freakishness any longer. Harry hoped that someone would come to look for him, but he didn't dare let himself develop any expectations. He was used to being let down. However, he did think that if the boy-who-lived-and-was-supposed-to-defeat-Voldemort went missing that someone ought to notice. If he didn't show up to Hogwarts, Ron and Hermione would at the very least let someone know.<br/>
Perphaps Dumbledore, or McGonagall or Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would stop by the house to check on him. Harry sighed at the thought when he realized what they would find if they did indeed stop by. A boy locked in a room like a prisoner, being starved and mistreated. The great and powerful chosen one, locked up by mere muggles. How pathetic.<br/>
Harry was torn. He wanted someone to come and let him out and take him to Hogwarts, but he didn't want anyone to know how the Dursley's treated him. It was embarrassing, but Harry also didn't want any pity, didn't want anyone to think less of him.<br/>
He was certain that if anyone found out what was happening here that they would think less of them. After all, why wouldn't they?<br/>
The day was drawing to a close, it had been unbearably hot, meaning everyone had stayed inside seeking refuge from the heat meaning an eerie silence had settled over the street. No cars passed by, no neighbors were greeting each other civilly over their hedges while they watered their lawns. Almost all the windows that Harry could see from his own were thrown wide open, why, Harry had no idea. But he spent plenty of time next to the window, staring longingly out of it, through the bars that were secured to the outside, preventing him from opening his own window.<br/>
Harry sighed from where he was standing, leaning over the desk that was positioned in front of the window and pushed himself up to stand straight and then dust himself off. He did need a serious cleaning, but he was barely ever let out. Hardly ever long enough to take a decent shower. His jeans were too short, ending several inches above his ankles. They were torn and rather dirty. His t-shirt was far too big for him and it was incredibly faded, once black, now with the appearance of being a light gray color. His shoes had holes in the toes and the soles were peeling. The laces were frayed and stained brown from dirt. All-in-all he looked positively awful, nearly as awful as he felt.<br/>
He thought that at least some of the unease and tension that he felt probably had something to do with the fact that Voldemort had been resurrected at the end of last school year. And then there was the tension and expectation that came along with that. Why hadn’t anything happened yet? Now that Voldemort was back, Harry felt that he had expected an attempt on his life right here at number four Privet Drive. Why wouldn’t there be one? All that was protecting him here were some lousy muggles that were more likely to offer him up to Voldemort than shield him. Was his mother’s sacrifice really so strong that it couldn’t be taken down like any other wards? Harry found that to be quite unlikely.<br/>
He let out a long breath and looked up at the clear, blue sky. Birds were flying around, chirping and singing and having a grand old time and Harry was jealous. Jealous that they were free, happy and able to fly. How he missed the feeling of being on a broomstick, how he missed his friends and being free to do as he pleased. He sat down at the desk, in the horribly uncomfortable wooden chair with a huge, heaving sigh and tipped his head back to look up at the ceiling.<br/>
He just revelled in the quiet for a moment, letting his thoughts wander aimlessly before he heard the loud crack that echoed all across the neighborhood. Harry’s head snapped up to watch out the window as a cat ran out from underneath a parked car and there were several loud noises from downstairs. Petunia shrieked, Vernon bellowed and something broke. Harry stood up so quickly that the chair pushed him back against the desk, refusing to be pushed backwards and he lurched forward, his head connecting with his window.<br/>
Tears gathered in his eyes as they stung and a streak of black made its way up the driveway. Harry, in his pain ridden state, thought the streak looked familiar but then realized how ridiculous that was. How could a streak look familiar? Harry brought a hand up to his head as it felt as though it had been split into two and he swayed slightly on his feet as he succeeded in pushing the chair back and moving away from the offending window.<br/>
He had barely made it the few feet from the desk to his bed to sit down on the edge of it when the door downstairs slammed and there was an uproar of shouting and cursing. There was another slam and the sound of stomping feet on the stairs. Harry instinctively went for his wand, brandishing it in front of him protectively as someone made quick work of the locks on the outside of his door and flung it open.<br/>
Vernon Dursley crossed the room quicker than Harry had ever seen him move before and before he knew it two large purple hands reached forward and closed tightly around his throat. </p><p>“Put - it - away!” His uncle snarled as Harry gasped for air. “How dare you?” Vernon demanded. “How dare you?”</p><p>Harry had never seen such a violent reaction to him having his wand out and about, any other time he might have pondered about that, wondered what had happened that he acted in such a way but Harry needn’t ask himself such questions. Over his uncle’s shoulder he could see Professor Snape standing in the doorway holding his wand aloft, the tip pointed at Vernon Dursley’s back.</p><p>“Release him.” Snape demanded. “Now.”</p><p>Uncle Vernon didn’t need to be told twice and he used the hands wrapped around Harry’s scrawny neck to fling him onto the bed and he turned around. “Don’t you tell me how to deal with a freak in my own home!” He bellowed. “He deserves everything that he gets.”</p><p>Snape regarded him coldly. Harry wondered if that had to do with the fact that he was a muggle or because Snape was here in Harry Potter’s home. It certainly couldn’t be because Snape disagreed with what Uncle Vernon had said. Snape hated Harry, he had made that perfectly clear the last four years. The constant ridicule and points taken from Gryffindor in class, there was no way that Snape was suddenly sympathetic or angry on behalf of Harry Potter.</p><p>If anything, he was already plotting to tell everyone exactly what goes on behind closed doors in the Dursley residence, much like he had exposed Lupin the year before last.</p><p>Snape took hold of the situation and told Uncle Vernon in no uncertain terms that Harry would be accompanying him back to Hogwarts and that there was nothing that a muggle like him could do about it. Vernon had huffed and puffed but eventually went downstairs to join Petunia and Dudley in the kitchen like Snape had insisted. </p><p>The Potion’s Master gave Harry nothing more than a cursory glance before moving into the room, his eyes fixed on the window.</p><p>“Um,” Harry mumbled, sitting up on the bed and following the Potion’s Master with his eyes. “Professor, what are you doing here?”</p><p>“Did it escape your attention that you should have been on the Hogwarts express yesterday or are you as daft as your relatives, Potter?” Snape asked sharply.</p><p>Harry’s eyes widened in surprise. “It’s already September?” The shock in his voice did not escape Snape’s attention as he turned to fix Harry with a look that looked rather out of place on his face. </p><p>Snape gave him a reluctant nod. “The second.” He informed him, turning to look down at the desk in front of the window. “You haven’t sent your post?”</p><p>Harry had several drafted letters sitting on the top of his desk. Letters for Ron, Hermione, Sirius and Hagrid. Letters he couldn’t send.</p><p>“I couldn’t.” Harry told him. “You see the bars on the window, right, Professor?”<br/>
Snape nodded again and moved on. “Pack your things.” He ordered. “I’d like to be going. I don’t have all day.”</p><p>Harry surged to his feet and quickly started to pack. When he was finished, he looked up and realized that Snape was examining the state of his door. The little flap and the locks on the outside of it were the main objects of his scrutiny. </p><p>“Sir?” Harry asked, lifting Hedwig’s cage into his arms. </p><p>Snape looked up distractedly and waved his wand. The cage and his trunk disappeared and Harry supposed that the Professor had sent them to Hogwarts. </p><p>Harry took a moment to look Snape over. He was dressed completely in black, the same outfit he normally wore in school, cloak included. His black eyes were sweeping methodically over the room, looking at and examining every nook and cranny. Occasionally his eyes would stop and fix on Harry, looking him over as if he wasn’t sure what to make of him. </p><p>“Follow me.” Snape intoned before he turned and strode out of the room. Harry followed him after a moment of hesitance and together they descended the stairs, Snape with his wand held firmly in his hand. </p><p>Harry made for the door once they got to the bottom of the stairs but Snape grabbed him by the arm and dragged him in the opposite direction. He stopped for a long moment outside the cupboard under the stairs and just stared at it. He didn’t say anything, nor did it attempt to open the cupboard. Once he was apparently satisfied with it, he looked over at Harry and entered the kitchen. </p><p>“Mr. Potter and I are leaving.” He announced to the Dursley’s, all of whom were sitting silently at the kitchen table looking positively petrified. “Thank you for your hospitality.”<br/>
That last half was said so sarcastically that not even Dudley could have missed it. Snape did not wait for a response from the purple-faced Uncle Vernon, rather he turned and once more grasped Harry’s upper arm. Although this time he turned on his heel and disapparated with Harry in tow.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Harry and Professor Snape have a conversation on their way back to Hogwarts</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The unlikely pair landed at the edge of Hogsmeade, which was a small wizarding village not far from Hogwarts that the older students sometimes got to visit on the weekends. Harry knew from his experience during those very same Hogsmeade weekends that the two of them still had a ways to walk. While it wasn’t an overly long walk back to the castle, it was still long enough that no one normally wanted to make the trip by themselves. It was far more enjoyable when you had someone to converse with. Professor Snape let go of his arm and started walking ahead of him and Harry realized that the walk was not going to be enjoyable as he was sure that the man dressed in dark, menacing robes would not be in the chatting mood.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Is there class today, sir?” Harry asked him, anyways a few moments later. They’d taken a few twists and turns on the trail in relative silence, Harry had only tripped a handful of times and his teacher acted as if he were none the wiser to the teenager’s clumsiness. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Snape looked back for the first time since they apparated into the village and shook his head, hair swaying slightly with the movement. “It’s Saturday.” He intoned as if the question had nearly bored him to sleep.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Harry nodded in relief, there were no classes on the weekends and that meant he had time to settle in before classes started. Harry was grateful for that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They walked the rest of the way in relative silence, Harry a few paces behind his teacher as the Potion’s Master’s robes billowed in the breeze. Harry was still in a fair bit of shock so the distance from his teacher was greatly appreciated. He used the walk to work through his thoughts as he twirled his wand in hand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Snape hated him. Right? Snape came to fetch him from his relatives and acted kindly. Maybe it was a ruse and he would spread word of poor little Harry Potter; locked in a room by his muggle relatives and starved. Poor little Harry Potter, savior of the wizarding world, unable to fight back even against muggles, needed his most hated professor to come and rescue him. How utterly pathetic. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Harry shook this off and hoped against hope that it wouldn’t come to pass. Hoped that perhaps Snape was the least bit kind and might keep all that had happened at Privet Drive to himself. It seemed unlikely but Harry humored himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wondered what Ron and Hermione were going to say about the entire situation. Then he wondered if he was going to tell them all of it. No, he supposed, he didn’t think that he would. He wasn’t sure what he would tell them, either. But it might not matter if Snape spread word that Harry had been locked up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Harry stopped in his tracks, his line of thoughts making his blood run cold. “Professor?” He winced at the sound of his voice. He sounded so small and so incredibly scared. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Snape turned at once, stopping as well, looking at Harry, unimpressed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I haven’t got all day, Mr. Potter.” He reminded him when Harry just stared up at him, seemingly searching for the words that he wanted to use.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Sir,” Harry sighed. “I’d really appreciate it if you wouldn’t um . . . I don’t know what I’m going to tell my friends about this whole . . .” He gestured vaguely, turning his eyes towards the ground where dirt mixed with pebbles and tufts of grass that had wandered into the pathway instead of growing among the grass on either side of the dirt. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Snape sneered lightly, like his heart was not truly in the expression. “Do you think you might be capable of forming words today, Potter?” He asked. “Do you think you can ask whatever it is that you want to ask and cease to continue wasting my time?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Harry bristled and glared openly at his teacher, unworried of any consequences that he may end up bringing upon himself. “I apologize, Professor.” He replied, hotly, clearly not apologetic. “But I do not ask for things that I know that I will not get.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Snape appeared to take a marginal amount of pity on the boy and answered the question he had not asked, looking away towards the trees that were not ten feet away from them. “Tell your friends that it was the belief of the Headmaster that the Dark Lord had planned an attack on the Hogwarts Express had you been seen on the platform. We instead planned to bring you via escort to the castle but to matters that were not explained to you, it was postponed until today.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Harry hadn’t expected that, he hadn’t been expecting anything helpful. Not from Snape, never anything helpful from Snape. Harry didn’t think that helpful was in the Potion’s Master’s vocabulary. Nor were kind, patient, compassionate or anything of the sort.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Harry’s glare lessened a bit in surprise at the long winded cover story and he blinked a few times before he managed to say anything. “Oh.” He said quietly. “Um. Thank you, sir.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Snape merely inclined his head, dark eyes flashing at Harry, but it didn’t seem menacing at all, and thinking back on every sneer and every insult that had been thrown Harry’s way that day, none of them had either. They had all been fairly half-hearted and hardly insulting at all. It was like Snape wasn’t even trying. Perhaps he was tired, or he was just waiting until he could really humiliate Harry in front of all the other students. Maybe he didn’t want to use all his best material, yes, that must be it. Because it certainly couldn’t be that Snape was being nice to Harry. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“If there is something you wish to say, Mr. Potter,” Snape drawled. “Then I suggest you say it now.” He looked bored once more and had dropped his eyes to his hand where he was looking at his fingernails in a blatant display of disinterest. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Harry sighed. “You hate me.” He stated. “But you’re being . .  . nice.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The word came out strangled, like Harry could hardly stand to use such a word as a description of his teacher’s more recent behavior. And in a way, he couldn’t. How could anyone expect him to be okay with using that word? Snape had tortured him in class for the better part of four years. He had been cruel and unkind and had ridiculed and belittled and torn the teenager down at every opportunity. Every chance he got, he had encouraged the Slytherins to join in and jeer and point and laugh. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Snape bristled at the observation and glared viciously at the shorter boy. “Is that so?” He asked slowly, his eyes suddenly guarded. His robes billowed slightly, dramatically.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Harry held his hands up in surrender. “Hey,” he defended, taking a step backwards. “you told me to say what I had to say. I said it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Indeed.” Snape sneered, making the word sound like a curse . “Did it ever to occur to you Mr. Potter, that perhaps I just said what </span>
  <em>
    <span>I</span>
  </em>
  <span> had to say?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Harry was confused at first by the way that Snape worded what he had said. What did he mean by that? It made no sense whatsoever. What had he said that he had to say? What was Harry supposed to make of that?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t . . .” Harry shook his head. “I don’t think that I understand, Professor.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Surely you aren’t that thick.” Snape told him, not sneering, not angry, almost no expression graced his features. His voice however held a modicum of disbelief, it seemed. Almost as if he had expected Harry to figure out what he had been trying to say. When Harry made no move to comment any further, Snape continued. “When you figure it out, we will speak about it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Harry looked around at their surroundings. They were on a long, narrow path with no one else in sight for miles. Snape was standing less than ten feet away from Harry, looking down at the teenager, back turned towards the direction they were heading in. They stood like that for a moment longer before Snape turned back around and continued up the path.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Harry hesitated for a moment more before following the professor back up to the castle. Finally, he was home.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>